first post
Well, after 20 days, 4 cities, 2 illnesses, and 1 blown laptop AC Adapter, I'm finally sending some word back home as to how New Zealand is going. The first few days went by slow as I got adjusted, but since then things have taken off faster than I can keep up with. I'll try to start from the beginning and give an overview of how things have been.

After flying through Dallas/Ft. Worth and Las Vegas, I finally arrived in Los Angeles to find my luggage safe and sound. I met up with the other students with about 20 minutes to spare, and we all loaded Qantas airlines for our 11 hour flight to Aukland, New Zealand. I had a middle seat in the middle section of chairs - less than ideal for an 11 hour overnight flight. Then, out of nowhere, a lady asked me to switch seats with her so she could sit with her family. Turns out she had a window seat, so I gladly accepted. When I got to my seat, a lady was complaining to a flight attendent that her aisle seat was wet and had a dirty fork on it. She and her husband ended up moving to other seats, and I had the whole row of 3 seats to myself for the entire flight. I stretched out and slept like a log. Since we were flying on New Year's Eve, when we passed the international date line, we actually skipped straight into Jan. 1 and missed the turn of the year. Weird.

- Here's a picture as we approached New Zealand.

It's 2 AM here, and I have a test tomorrow morning in Island Biogeography that I haven't studied for. I also have to plan and pack for my weekend trip to Hokitika that I'm leaving for right after my test. I'll throw some more pictures up with brief summaries, and write more details later when I have some time.

I spent the first week exploring Wellington. It's a beautiful city with harbour, beaches, and mountains all rolled into one. My dorm sits right at the top of the famous Cable Car and offers an amazing view of the city.

- here's the view from the waterfront

- the roads are all very windy and steep, which makes for great running and exploration (getting lost is the goal.. locals are more than glad to point you in the right direction)

- this flowering tree is everywhere and the red part of the flower coats the streets and roofs

The first weekend trip was a big one, especially since I planned it for everyone.. it was to Rotorua, the geothermal centre of New Zealand. We went whitewater rafting, sledging (river boarding), caving, zorbing (don't ask), and I went kayaking. Here's some non-whitewater pictures (since most of you have seen those already)

- we met some nasty traffic along the coastline. A major faultline causes rockslides that block the road.

- here's the major mountain along the road, right before we went through Taupo. I want to say the name is Ruapehu, but I'll check on that

-the next weekend we went to Taupo, which is just south of Rotorua. These are pictures of Taupo lake and geothermal sites in the area